Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order arising from question posed during question period by the leader of the official opposition to the Prime Minister with regard to the VIP program and the written promise by the Prime Minister to extend those benefits to all veterans and widows upon taking the reins of power.

It was obvious from the answer from the Prime Minister that he knows nothing about the issue. He shared nothing on the specific issue. It must be because he forget about this issue.

I ask for the unanimous consent of the House to table the written promise from Prime Minister to Joyce Carter.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian Parliamentary delegation of the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association respecting its bilateral visit to Egypt from March 4 to 6, 2007.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian Parliamentary Delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association regarding its parliamentary mission to the country that will next hold the European Union presidency, Lisbon, Portugal, and its participation to the second part of the 2007 ordinary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, April 12 to 20.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.

In accordance with its order of reference under Standing Order 108(2), your committee has considered a motion recommending the government amend the phosphorous concentration regulations in order to phase out concentrations of phosphorous in dishwasher detergent and laundry detergents and agreed to it on Tuesday, June 12, 2007.

Mr. Speaker, this bill would do two things. It would preserve a reduced rate for postage on books between libraries and expand the library book rate program to include magazines, records, CDs, CD-ROMs, audio cassettes, video cassettes, DVDs and other audio-visual material, something Canadian libraries have been asking for since 1967.

I would like to thank Erin Crandall for her tremendous work on this bill on my behalf and on behalf of Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, this year Ukrainian Canadians mark the 75th anniversary of one of the most heinous crimes in modern history, the state sponsored famine of 1932-33 perpetrated by the Soviet regime of Stalin against the Ukrainian people.

Called Holodomor, which in Ukrainian means murder by hunger, millions of Ukrainians were stripped of their produce in a forced farm collectivization campaign that killed close to 10 million Ukrainians and was devised to destroy aspirations for a free and independent Ukraine.

For decades, the truth about this horrific crime was suppressed by Soviet authorities. The omission of this forced famine and genocide from our history books is very troubling to me, which is why today, as a Ukrainian Canadian myself, I am introducing an act to establish Ukrainian Genocide and Famine Memorial Day.

This bill would not only designate the fourth Saturday of November as a memorial day for the Ukrainian famine, but it also acknowledges the famine as an act of genocide.

I would like to thank the continued efforts of the Ukrainian Canadian community that has worked tirelessly to bring public awareness to the Ukrainian famine and genocide.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to again introduce a private member's bill seconded by the member for British Columbia Southern Interior, which would allow Canadians who object on conscientious or religious grounds to paying taxes for military purposes, to divert their income taxes into a special conscientious objector account. That account could only be used for purposes other than military expenditures.

This bill would recognize the deeply held views often related to deeply held religious convictions of some Canadians of participating in any way in the activities of war and the accumulation of weapons, sanctions and perpetuates killing and violence.

The bill would provide an important option for conscientious objection and ensure that the tax dollars of those Canadians who hold these beliefs are spent for peaceful purposes.

A particular feature of the bill is that regulations should be developed in consultation with the Canadian yearly meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, the Quakers; the Conference of Mennonites in Canada; Conscience Canada; the Mennonite Central Committee in Canada; and Nos impôts pour la paix.